Judge Not Inclined To Delay Brutal Legend Release News

According to an Associated Press report, the judge hearing Activision's case against Brutal Legend developer Double Fine Productions has indicated that he will not uphold Activision's demands to delay the release of the game.

Despite this, LA Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan has delayed arguments on the case until August 6th. It seems that the reasons for the delay are that his calendar is full (with rounds of golf no doubt) and to allow both parties to fully argue their case (with bundles of cash, possibly).

Activision filed a lawsuit against Double Fine last June under the grounds that it holds the publishing rights to Brutal Legend, which is currently being published by EA under the EA Partners program.

Brutal Legend fell out of the Activision net after it merged with Vivendi last year (when the game was subsequently picked up by EA), although Activision contends that it has spent a total of $15 million on the game's development.

At a tentative hearing for the case last Thursday, an EA attorney told Judge Karlan that Electronics Arts has already spent millions developing Brutal Legend. Double Fine has countersued Activision on the grounds that the publisher already breached its original contract and is merely trying to protect its Guitar Hero franchise from Brutal Legend's competition.

Despite all of this, Judge Karlan still appears to be in two minds on the case, saying of Activision's lawsuit that, "I can't say there's a likelihood of success here," but also that, "This is going to be a close call."

On the positive side of things, at least Brutal Legend's October release looks safe.